RavePhiladelphia Inquirer\"Blight has also deftly integrated newly unearthed materials relating to Douglass\' later life into his monograph, making it the most comprehensive biography of Douglass ever written. The author does an admirable job of keeping his audience culturally oriented, continually reminding the reader of the presence and crucial influence of Scripture — particularly the Old Testament — on Douglass\' thinking and writing. Above all, Blight lets this remarkable voice speak for itself throughout the text. Douglass excelled at telling his own story (he wrote three autobiographies), and Blight does not talk over him ... Blight has written a biography that will likely stand as definitive for decades to come.\
Ron Chernow
RaveThe Philadelphia InquirerReading Ron Chernow's new biography, a truly mammoth examination of the life of Ulysses S. Grant, one is struck by the humanity - both the pitiful frailty and the incredible strength - of its subject. Grant, the 18th president of the United States and one of the greatest soldiers of all time, emerges in Chernow's telling as a man of remarkable contradictions ... In this timely book, Chernow argues Grant does not deserve his long-held reputation for corruption and incompetence, and belongs in the pantheon of the greatest American leaders ... And unlike many previous scholars, Chernow defends Grant from charges of corruption and shows he bore little responsibility for the obscene concentrations of wealth that became a feature of American life during his presidency ... Grant's foibles ought not to diminish his legacy, Chernow seems to conclude, but rather enhance our appreciation.
